Sprinting Toward Gomorrah

In 1996, the late Robert Bork wrote a book entitled, Slouching Toward Gomorrah. But today, we're not slouching toward Sodom and Gomorrah, we seem to be in an all-out sprint.

In the book, Bork---the former Yale law professor, federal judge, and nominee to the US Supreme Court---explains that he got the phrase from a 1919 poem by W. B. Yeats, "The Second Coming," which uses the line "Slouching Toward Bethlehem." That poem contains these lines: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity."

As of this writing, the Boy Scouts of America are toying with the possibility of accepting openly gay scoutmasters. They have now put off this vote for another time, perhaps May. No matter how the vote goes, the fact they're even considering it shows how far we've gone. Some corporations seem to be putting pressure on the Scouts to cave. Even the president is putting similar pressure.

Yet, even the US Supreme Court ruled in 2000, in The Boy Scouts, et al v. Dale, that as a private, voluntary association, the Scouts could exclude known, openly homosexual Scout leaders when, quoting the Court, "the presence of that person affects in a significant way the group's ability to advocate public or private viewpoints."

As a former Boy Scout (not very advanced, for our troop fell apart after a short while), I've marveled how all these years, the Boy Scouts have stood firm. But now there's intense pressure on them to cave into the gay movement, just as about every other group has in society, even many of our churches (despite what the Bible has to say about homosexuality---including redemption. Thankfully, there are thousands of ex-homosexuals alive today, changed by the Gospel).

As to the Boy Scouts, without officially allowing gay scoutmasters, isn't it true that there have been many cases of molestation of boys by scoutmasters? Many lawsuits have been filed.

Wouldn't opening up the Boy Scouts to explicitly gay scoutmasters increase the chances of that happening---not that all gays would do that? Have we lost our common sense as a society? Must all private, voluntary organizations today succumb to the tentacles of political correctness?

People seem to forget that the scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church essentially revolves around gay priests. You hardly ever hear about girls being molested by wayward priests. It's almost always boys.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. William Donohue's article, "John Jay Study on Sexual Abuse: A Critical Analysis." Says Donahue, president of the Catholic League (Catalyst, Jul/Aug 2011): Four related events emerged at the peak of the crisis that account for what happened: • there was an exodus of heterosexual priests after Vatican II, a large percentage of whom got married • the effect of this exodus was to leave behind a greater proportion of homosexual priests • a tolerance for sexual expression in the seminaries was evident at this time, leading many previously celibate homosexual priests to act out • there was a surge of homosexuals into the seminaries. It was the interaction of these four factors, I would argue, that accounts for the increase in male victims at the height of the sexual abuse crisis. Then Donohue adds, "The authors insist that homosexuality played no role in the abuse crisis, but their own data undermine this conclusion."

Jesus warned about those adults who would cause little children who believe in Him to stumble. It's a very severe warning. You can look it up for yourself (in Matt. 18:6-7). When an adult molests a child, even if that adult has a clerical collar or a Scout uniform, is he not defying the words of Christ, not to mention doing untold damage to the child?

President Lincoln quoted part of this warning from Jesus in 1865 in his 2nd Inaugural Address (in the context of slavery): "The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!'" These words are chiseled in stone at the Lincoln Memorial. A modern translation (NIV) puts it this way: "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to that man through whom they come!"

A lot of single parents struggle to provide positive influences to their children. The Scouts provides an exemplary, affordable outlet and means by which many of these young boys can find positive male role models. Will there come a time when many parents (single or married) will avoid the Scouts because they can't be sure if their child will be safe? We should speak out before it's too late. (The Boy Scouts number is 972-580-2400.)

In his book, Slouching Toward Gomorrah, Robert Bork writes, "If we slide into a modern, high-tech version of the Dark Ages, we will have done it to ourselves without the assistance of the Germanic tribes that destroyed Roman civilization." (p. 4).

Bork adds, "We are living through a cultural collapse, and major corporations are presiding over that collapse and grabbing everything they can on the way down." Corporations? "Presiding over the collapse?"

He also notes: "The upshot is that American popular culture is in a free fall, with the bottom not yet in sight. This is what the liberal view of human nature has brought us to….There is an eager and growing market for depravity, and profitable industries devoted to supplying it." (p.139).